Thursday, February 25, 2010

HAHA O.k., this has to be one of the best episodes of the Daily Show I have seen in a long time. Stewart is very clever and does a great job when discussing the new development in the recent Toyota crisis. If you don't know; millions of Toyota vehicles world wide were found out to have brake problems or uncontrollable speed issues. And They Blame us for it???? Ha... So they, basically, try and kill us then have the audacity to blame us for it?

The 2nd part is an interview with Jeff Garlin, it is interesting and yes, humorous.

A few interesting points made on this particular episode of the Daily Show, my favorite portion is regarding a new Credit Card approach with the new Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act. Basically, there are new regulations (boy, that word comes up a lot) on credit cards, which technically is needed, as these companies were allowed to, for example, raise interest rates without warning or change the due date without notice. So, this would have been alright if maybe the government didn't warn them 9 months in advance that this was going to be taken place. Not only were they warned, but they did a whole lot to prepare/compensate for it. Many people found their interest rates jacked all the way up to 30% and their date's changed which caused late penalty fees. John Stewart puts it all very nicely, I have to say, with a nice interview from Correspondent Wyatt Cynac featuring a former employee of Bank of America. One thing she says is that an old inside joke between Bank of America employees, "Upstairs they give you the credit, downstairs they collect on it."

Check it out, definitely funny but some good information given, the link is below.

And btw: A new fee for not using your credit card regularly???? ... Our world keeps getting better and better, huh... For the banks, yes. Is it not bad enough that whatever late fees (or any fees at all) they give us, those fees are then charged interest on?

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

One thing that I have always said is this: Actions speak louder than words.

The thing about words is, well, any combination of them can be put together to say anything. Words can be powerful, emotionally and physically. They can cause someone to smile, someone to frown or cry. They enlighten, inspire, degrade and compromise. Words are important and without them, communication wouldn't be very efficient. Words can be used to deceive, manipulate and control. Sometimes, the words that are used are contradictory as when it comes to the actions preceding, they were false or incorrect. Some words are used as lies, tools to distract from the actions take place.

One of the things all politicians do is speak, and they do it a lot. They use words all the time, sometimes forming slogans such as "Yes We Can" and "Change we can believe in." These were from Obama's campaign, things he and the people at his rallies repeated many times. Other Politicians use their own choice of words. But when it comes down it, all but one of them have yet to act on what they continuously promise (Although Barack Obama was quite genius as all he had to do was manipulate people into believing in change itself rather than him really saying anything about making actual changes. After all, he is doing exactly what the others before him have done.). Ron Paul does what he says. He even takes the left over money from his campaigns and demonetizes it so that it has no effect on the economy, sure it's not much, but maybe its a few million dollars, we the people, don't have to pay in tax dollars.

I'm just saying: Actions speak louder than words. As they determine what is done, rather than what is just being said. Pay attention, it's going on all the time. There is always lots and lots being said, only most of it is either stupid, ridiculous or completely irrelevant. Then again, it's not like anything is really being done anyway, well, not that hasn't been done.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Found this on a friends wall, shared by a friend of theirs, and after watching it I decided to post it here, hoping others will take the time to watch it.

This video features something that I continuously stress, media being used to program us to think, act and perceive live in a specific way: that which is being promoted and is most suitable to the agenda. Dave Chappelle said it best at the beginning of the video when he said "the use the t.v. to program us from a young age." All types of media are affected by this agenda but this video is pertaining to music, specifically hip hop.

One of the most respected and appreciated artists in the fairly short history of hip hop is Tupac Shakur, known by most as just Tupac. In a lot of ways, he was a messenger, speaking powerfully in every track that he performed on. Nobody has ever had even close to the same level of passion or lyrical presence as Tupac did, and a lot of times what he was rapping was positive and definitely meaningful. His life was cut short in a controversial shooting, many conspiracies have come up but nothing has been solidified. Since his passing on, hip hop has never been the same. He definitely has one of the largest, if not the largest, influence on the entire industry as a whole, but no one has ever come close to comparing to his talent. In fact, Hip Hop (and the rest of mainstream Music) has been diminishing in quality of intelligence in lyrics, in the messages being sent and in the imagery being shown. He has some excellent points in this video, check them out.

There is a difference between selling out and selling your soul. With government regulations and statutes in place, it is extremely difficult for any individual to make it in music these days, especially hip hop. Recently, hip hop has been slandered by the biggest names in the industry today as they state it is "dead." It is technically only dead to anyone trying to come into it, they are still getting richer (Beyonce and Jay-z were the 2nd richest couple in the world in 2009). Regardless, it is dead, as if you pay attention to how the mainstream lyrics have progressed, well actually, decreased in value of intellect and positivity, it is clear to see that most of the artists coming out are mindless. In order to get into any one of the major labels (there's only a few, and they own all the smaller ones) you would have to sell out, as they depict and determine what style comes out, and also determine what will be "popular." Lil Wayne is the King of Hip Hop? Half the times HE doesn't even know what he is saying on a song...

Monday, February 22, 2010

I don't know the exact date of this show but this is an old clip from Stephen Colbert's "Better Know a District" which I enjoyed. It is in regards to the Patriot Act bill, which this congressman from New York voted against, stating he didn't want to support a bill created by "Scoundrels pretending to be patriots that were destroyed our liberties while doing so." He also said that it was a "272-page bill that no one had a chance to read." Clearly the interview included Colbert's clever humor but he allows this congressman to speak, which I enjoyed.